Four Walton College students traveled to New York with Center for Retailing Excellence staff members to attend the National Retail Federation 2016 Big Show Student Program Jan. 14-17. They joined nearly 500 students representing more than 50 universities around the country for the retail conference, which provided students opportunities for internships, employment, training programs and networking.
Students Jessica Fuentes, Hoang Le Dang, Kelsey Casey and Jack Scaccia attended the conference with Center for Retailing Excellence staff members Claudia Mobley, director, and Pam Styles, associate director.
Conference attendees heard from senior retail leaders from Belk, HSNi, Nike, Williams-Sonoma, The Home Depot, Macy’s, Nordstrom, Walgreens, Walmart, Kohl’s Corporation and more.
Four years ago there were seven university members of NRF, with the University of Arkansas serving as a founding member of the student program. In 2016, there are now 67 university members.
Fuentes and Dang earned a conference scholarship through participation in STORE, Students in Retailing Excellence, a registered student organization. In addition, Fuentes received a travel sponsorship from National Retail Federation as the University of Arkansas NRF Rising Star; Dang was the NRF Student Ambassador for recruiting more than 25 members.
Fellow students Casey and Scaccia represented Enactus, a registered student organization that promotes entrepreneurship as a way to create a better world. Their travel was sponsored by the Center for Retailing Excellence.
